Part 5 – Evolution looks at how the Harry Potter films grew over time: evolving set design, costumes, production style and storytelling across the eight-film series. From earlier lighter tones to the darker, mature chapters, see how the look and feel of Hogwarts and the wizarding world matured. Ideal for fans in Australia, the Philippines, the UK and the USA who’ve followed the saga from start to finish.
evolution of Harry Potter films, making of Harry Potter part 5, Harry Potter production evolution, Wizarding World film growth
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evolution of Harry Potter films, making of Harry Potter part 5, Harry Potter production evolution, Wizarding World film growth
#HarryPotterEvolution #MakingOfHarryPotter #WizardingWorld
Thank you for supporting our channel
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Short filmTranscript
00:00.
00:06Morning, Paul. How you doing, man?
00:08Yeah. Nice to see you.
00:11Here we are, day one. First day of principal photography.
00:14Only 247 to go.
00:16Ten years on stage.
00:20We've made eight films in 11 years...
00:23...and it has given all of us the opportunity to actually do things better each time.
00:30It is great.
00:31Every year, they seem to get bigger and bigger...
00:33...and we're seeing a lot more depth in these characters, I think, now.
00:36Bloody hell, Harry. That was not funny.
00:38Very good, Roberts.
00:40Having the opportunity to spend ten years with a character...
00:43...and to have so many chances to get it right is wonderful.
00:46Cut. One more, please.
00:47It's gonna hit you absolutely fresh. You don't expect that.
00:51Because of the storyline always changing...
00:53...you know, every year, there's always something new to see.
00:56Very good. One final one.
00:58Okay, cut. Go, baby.
00:59Very good.
01:00I think that having different directors brought new energy...
01:03...and I think that helped the films to evolve.
01:06All right, let's go.
01:07Thanks.
01:08All right, here we go. Shooting now.
01:10First one.
01:11And action.
01:12And action.
01:13And action.
01:14And action.
01:18The Harry Potter series has such deep roots. I started writing it in 1990.
01:30I was a first-time author. And I'd never dreamt that there might be a film.
01:47I really just wanted to be published.
01:52In August of 1997, this book, which was still not published, but was in galley form, there was some word about it.
02:02And, um, we got the book in to my office.
02:06And then my secretary, Nisha, took it home.
02:09And on Monday morning, I said, Has anybody read anything good?
02:12And Nisha piped up. I said, Well, I read something that I quite liked.
02:16I said, What was it called?
02:17She said, It's called Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
02:20I said, That's a rubbish title. What's it about?
02:22She said, Well, it's about this young boy, and he goes to wizard school.
02:25And I straightaway, I thought, That was a fantastic idea.
02:29And I took it home that night, and I read it, and I fell hopelessly in love.
02:35But I had no idea that I was reading a book that was going to become the phenomenon that it has become.
02:42I think it was around about the time the second book was published.
02:45There was a flood of film offers and television offers and all sorts of adaptations.
02:50And I said no to all of them. And, in fact, initially, I said no to Warner Brothers, too.
02:54And it was about a year after that that I said yes.
02:58The absolute crux of the matter for me was that they did not take my characters and take them off to do something that I didn't want them to do.
03:04Because I obviously am in the middle of a seven-book series.
03:07So I didn't ever want anyone to make Harry Goes to Las Vegas or, you know, Harry Potter Gets Married, Harry Potter, I don't know, Goes to the Moon.
03:15Any of this would have been disastrous for me. I wanted us both to be working to the same plot.
03:21I think the most pressure I felt was going into that first meeting with J.K. Rowling.
03:26I was there with David Heyman, the producer, and the three of us talked for about three hours.
03:32And she basically wanted to hear my philosophy, my vision for the film.
03:37I was prickly about Chris, I'm going to be completely honest. I was prickly because Chris was American.
03:42And it was my impression that there might be a temptation to give us all an American Harry.
03:48In fact, the first review the books ever got in The New Yorker said they wouldn't succeed in America because there's so much British slang and dialect in them.
03:55I felt that the story was strong enough, so I really wanted the film to have a distinctly British feel.
04:04And that was the thing I felt we needed to be most faithful about.
04:08That meant almost everything to me, actually. And Chris promised me two things.
04:14He promised me that he would remain as faithful to the book as he possibly could within the constraints of film.
04:20And he promised me that he would have an all-British cast. And he kept both promises. And so I was a happy woman.
04:30I knew that she felt secure with me at that point because I really was going to take extra special care of her baby.
04:40You know, she gave us permission to pursue it. And there began this long and rather magnificent odyssey.
04:53Getting the job was such an enormous sense of relief, and that lasted for about ten seconds.
04:57And then the pressure started to build, and there were pressures from all sides.
05:01It was kind of like being in a directorial straitjacket because you had pressure from the fans in terms of being faithful to the book because people were obsessed with them.
05:11My first thought was, please, God, don't let them make a bad Harry Potter film.
05:16And I think that anyone who's ever read the books thought that. Anyone who ever had a child that read them didn't.
05:20Just thought, wouldn't it be awful if it was really crap?
05:23It was not a given that people would come and watch the films.
05:26In fact, quite the opposite. There was a lot of fear that the text was so sacred that it would fall at the first hurdle.
05:33Because I wanted the film to be the faithful retelling of the first book.
05:38We actually talked about creating a three-and-a-half-hour film with an intermission.
05:42The idea of two films came up from day one.
05:45You know, we thought, well, maybe this can be separated into two films.
05:48Ended with the first Quidditch match.
05:50Because I just felt that the material deserved it.
05:59However, we couldn't become such a slave to the material that the film would suffer.
06:04On those first few films, we were exploring completely new territory.
06:11There were an awful lot of decisions that had to be made.
06:15Every day was full of meetings, just trying to determine the way forward.
06:22Nobody knew anything. Nobody knew what the school uniform looked like.
06:26Nobody knew who the children were.
06:28Nobody knew how to throw a spell or what a wand looked like or nothing.
06:33It was a completely blank sheet of paper.
06:36The first day is the scariest, isn't it, always?
06:38Because you have none of the answers.
06:40You don't have a philosophy or anything else.
06:42And you set about building it, really.
06:46The foundation was built in those early meetings.
06:48But we were essentially creating, somewhat in stone,
06:52the look and the feel of the next six Harry Potter films.
06:59So, if I thought about that too much, I probably never would have left the house.
07:05Well, no, the difficult aspects of the first one
07:07was setting up the studio, setting up the sets.
07:10Now, having worked out very carefully that it would take most,
07:14if not all, of Pinewood and how much that would cost,
07:17I made the decision to try and get Leavesden
07:19because I knew it was empty. I knew that it just sat here.
07:22When we found Leavesden, it was a disused Rolls-Royce airplane factory.
07:27And it was where the engines for the Rolls-Royce airplanes were built.
07:30And so it's not exactly a glamorous place.
07:34And you can feel, you know, it's quite rough around the edges.
07:37Well, you know, the thing is, I hated Leavesden.
07:40When I almost came here before Harry Potter to make one or two other films,
07:45I always managed to kind of steer myself away from it
07:48because it was depressing.
07:50But it did have space, and it gave us the opportunity to build these sets
07:55and hope they would last for a few films.
07:58So Leavesden was a very good base for us.
08:02And, of course, it's evolved as a studio
08:05in terms of having facilities, dressing rooms, and the roof,
08:08even though it leaks, it doesn't leak as much as it used to.
08:11Uh, it's improved enormously.
08:13It's become a proper kind of working facility.
08:16We also were able to build a canteen, classrooms for the actors,
08:26and our editing rooms and our visual effects room.
08:29Everything was there.
08:30We also built the animal compound where we were training all these animals.
08:34Speak!
08:36We even built a big baseball field outside of Leavesden.
08:38So it became a full-functioning, you know, Harry Potter world.
08:42But God only knew it was gonna last for eight films.
08:45It's very unusual to have an entire facility to oneself
08:49and affords us many things that we might not otherwise have.
08:52We could leave sets up over multiple films.
08:56And so, you know, some sets have been here forever.
08:59The Great Hall, for example, was one of the first sets that was built.
09:03Actually, there was a great discussion about that set
09:05because Stuart Craig was really determined that we have real Yorkstone.
09:09In the first film, we were thinking,
09:11well, maybe we should paint the floor
09:13because it'd be much, much cheaper.
09:15Yorkstone's quite expensive.
09:16But Stuart insisted and he was most certainly right
09:19because here we are on the seventh and eighth films
09:22and we're still using that same Yorkstone.
09:24In the beginning was the word.
09:27And the earth was without form and void.
09:31And then along came Stuart Craig.
09:35Stuart is such a huge influence on the look of the place,
09:39the architecture, the aesthetic of the whole thing.
09:43Next to Joe Rowling, you know, Stuart interpreted that world architecturally
09:47and from a design perspective.
09:49And he's done a remarkable job and he's seen the series through
09:52from the very first film to the final frame.
09:56I remember my very first sketch of Hogwarts
09:58and I remember Chris Columbus saying,
10:01but it's not big enough.
10:03I mean, I have a reputation for thinking expensively,
10:09but certainly he encouraged that.
10:13This world wasn't to be small and modest.
10:17We wanted Hogwarts to not only be a frightening magical place,
10:20but slightly inviting.
10:21You know, it's Harry's real home.
10:23You know, we wanted to create sets that would feel like they'd been there
10:28for hundreds and hundreds of years as if they'd been lived in.
10:32And so as magical as they are, you never wanted the audience to doubt
10:36for a second that Hogwarts wasn't a real place.
10:38And Stuart understood that from the beginning.
10:40So these are some photographs from the first Harry Potter film.
10:46Here's Chris Columbus, John Seale, Stuart Craig on that first scout
10:50when we were really finding where we were going to locate everything.
10:54It was quite a significant trip, really.
10:57Here is Chris and John on location.
11:00I think that was Glastow Cathedral, but I'm not sure. Maybe Durham.
11:05In the early days of this series,
11:07it was necessary that we'd also shot on location.
11:10We couldn't afford to build the entire world.
11:12So you couldn't be too whimsical.
11:14The world did have a sort of solid reality about it,
11:17because it was real.
11:19Out of that sound reality, the magic came as a surprise.
11:27That has become a philosophy carried throughout the movies.
11:30But obviously it isn't the movies that have added the detail.
11:34The detail is there in the novels.
11:36I remember Jo coming to visit the set during pre-production
11:40on the first film, and we were showing her props.
11:43And one of the group's props we showed her were the wands.
11:46And really it was the only criticism that she made.
11:49When I say criticism, it was a very gentle criticism.
11:51She said, you know, it seems just the wands are a little bit ornate.
11:54She said she always imagined it to be much rougher,
11:57much less refined.
11:59And so Harry's wand emerged as a little bit of coarse,
12:03not decorative at all, actually.
12:05Which seems quite appropriate for Harry in many ways.
12:08So whenever Jo makes a note, it makes tons of sense.
12:11And Chris so loved everything that Jo had done,
12:14and did everything in his power to be faithful to it.
12:17The directors that followed Chris, all of us were very lucky
12:21that Chris made such great decisions.
12:24One fundamental one, obviously, is the cast.
12:26Chris put together an amazing group of actors,
12:29to start with the three main children,
12:32Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
12:34In terms of casting, we had pressure from the fans
12:38to make sure that they saw the actors on screen
12:41as they did in their head.
12:43How's that possible? Everybody's got a different vision.
12:45Although, when I first saw these three kids,
12:47there was a sense that they embody these characters
12:50that Jo Rowling had written.
12:52I do actually remember that audition period really, really clearly.
12:54I don't think there was a great deal of analysis or thought went into it,
12:57because I was 11, and I just delivered the lines
13:02like I would have said them at age 11.
13:05Once he starts breathing fire...
13:07Breathing fire? How could you live in a wooden house?
13:10Harry, I think, is very much a book character.
13:13He's very introspective.
13:15He is the reader's eyes onto the world.
13:17He wears the glasses.
13:19And that's not easy to convey, for I believe, for any actor,
13:24let alone an actor of 11 or 12.
13:26But what Daniel's got, I think, is the ability to listen and react
13:31very well on screen.
13:33Your mom and dad wouldn't want you to get hurt, would they?
13:36I'll never know what they'd have wanted,
13:38because thanks to Black, I've never spoken to them.
13:40Act!
13:41You do it, then, if you're so clever, mister.
13:44I know everything.
13:46Fine.
13:48Ronald Rupert.
13:49Yeah?
13:50Miss, I know everything.
13:51Oh.
13:52They were green actors, but there was something inside of them
13:55that just needed to be brought out over the months
13:57and subsequently over the years.
13:59So there was never a doubt in my mind
14:02that we didn't have the perfect three kids.
14:06Oh, oh, oh, oh.
14:08Wow.
14:09Oh, oh.
14:11Oh, oh.
14:13Oh!
14:14I knew, as the first movie was being made,
14:17that when this movie opened, you know, it was gonna be huge.
14:20There's no such thing as magic.
14:23You know, it was all being talked about.
14:25All the kids were talking about nothing else.
14:27But the thing I always remember was that when I first saw it,
14:30um, I thought,
14:32Do you know, I think I've actually worked on a good film for once.
14:35What was most moving for me was to see Diagon Alley,
14:40the interior of Hogwarts.
14:42They really do look as I imagine them to look inside my own head.
14:45There are for sure going to be people out there saying,
14:48well, that's not my Great Hall, but I can promise them
14:51it is definitely my Great Hall.
14:53So, from my point of view, it's obviously wonderful.
14:55Gryffindor wins the House Cup.
15:02Obviously, it was a huge success,
15:04and, er, that was gratifying.
15:07And the chance to go back and develop it further
15:10was very, very gratifying.
15:12Um, the chance to improve on some things
15:15was also a very attractive proposition.
15:19After they had established that they could tell the story on film
15:22so well and so engagingly,
15:25they had slightly more license, you know,
15:27to make the second film true to the book,
15:29but not exactly the book.
15:31The great thing about 2 is that you're not set in the scene,
15:34you can now tell the story.
15:35Everybody understands the world,
15:37so you can just get on with having fun with it then.
15:43Once we started Chamber of Secrets,
15:45there was a little bit of a sense of relief for me,
15:48knowing that the straitjacket had loosened considerably.
15:51But when I started the movie,
15:53there were only three books published,
15:55so we didn't know what was going to happen in book seven.
15:58The only information that we knew
16:00was what Joe Rowling wanted to tell us.
16:02I'm a very secretive writer.
16:04No one ever sees anything that I'm writing.
16:06And possibly that's my way of ensuring
16:08it does remain completely private.
16:10I like the feeling that only I know.
16:12If we had had all seven books when we began,
16:16then obviously everything would have been catered for.
16:19Hogwarts would have been designed for Harry Potter's first trip
16:23at age 11 as well as Dumbledore's death,
16:26but that wasn't the case.
16:28So you behave in a kind of expedient way
16:31and just do what's absolutely necessary
16:33to get the movie in hand made.
16:38For example, this is the diary that Ginny writes in
16:41and corresponds with Tom Riddle.
16:44And when we were making Chamber of Secrets,
16:47we had no idea of how significant this would later become
16:50because we were at the same place as the readers in the books.
16:55So we're constantly questioning both ourselves and Joe and the books.
17:00But an adaptation is an adaptation after all.
17:03And sometimes the journey from one to the other
17:06involves changing things a little bit.
17:08My wand. Look at my wand.
17:11Be thankful it's not your neck.
17:13Nevertheless, the vision has to basically fit in
17:16with the vision of all seven pictures.
17:18So the plan that we set into motion was the first film
17:22is our introduction to Harry's world.
17:24And as we become part of this world,
17:26it has to be romantic and storybook-like
17:28and inviting and colorful and warm.
17:31As we got to the second film,
17:33we drained a little of the color out of the film.
17:35The film starts to get a little darker, just like the books.
17:37Even in the wizarding world, hearing voices isn't a good sign.
17:41She's right, you know.
17:43Numbers one and two were about little children.
17:48And so, of course, were sunnier.
17:51It's absolutely right that those films should have been full of sun.
17:54That's actually great.
17:59But I didn't just stick with the first two movies
18:01because I just wanted to do the childhood version of Harry.
18:04When I came aboard, I was under the impression
18:06that I would do all seven pictures.
18:08I didn't realize the amount of energy it would take
18:11not only to do one, but to do two back to back.
18:13Your stands are over on this side.
18:16On the second one, there was truly no time at all.
18:19We had a very truncated schedule
18:21because we had to come out a year after the first film.
18:29So the schedule was tighter.
18:31The post-production was incredibly short.
18:34And of all the films,
18:36that was probably the most pressured.
18:39We've never done that since, thank goodness,
18:41because that was pretty tough.
18:43Now, the key is, though, guys,
18:45you gotta get into the scene again.
18:48And three-quarters of the way through Chamber of Secrets,
18:51I realized there was no way I was gonna be able to continue
18:54because I was practically a basket case
18:56after working on 600-plus days of shooting.
18:59I was completely emotionally and physically exhausted.
19:03There was no way I could do a third Harry Potter film.
19:06When Chris made the decision to not direct the third film,
19:09you know, it was quite...
19:11It was sad, actually.
19:12Sad and a little bit scary.
19:14Because you wonder, okay,
19:15are people gonna be interested in coming in to direct a sequel?
19:18How will they feel not having created the world?
19:23So it was a little bit scary.
19:26But Chris remained on as a producer.
19:29And so he was around and helped, in a way,
19:32guide us into the post-Chris era.
19:35Cut!
19:36I do have separation anxiety.
19:38But we've been very fortunate in having some really talented directors
19:42come into that world
19:44and take it in the direction that we always intended.
19:50Alfonso was mentioned very early on,
19:52and I was really enthusiastic about the idea.
19:55Azkaban was a much more reflective book.
19:57And so, although it's a tricky plot,
19:59I think in this case the book and the director
20:02were really made for each other.
20:04Look at those long shells, Michael.
20:06Alfonso was a complete change.
20:09When Alfonso turned up, you know,
20:11we were all sort of staring at each other in disbelief.
20:14It was like, who is this guy?
20:16You know, what's he up to?
20:21Clearly there were some nervous people.
20:23You know, Alfonso just made a film.
20:25It was a very sexy, racy, beautiful film.
20:30I think they were a little bit nervous
20:31about what Ron, Harry and Hermione might get up to in Harry Potter.
20:36But once you see the film,
20:37you have no question that he was the right choice.
20:41The most challenging part of being brought into a franchise,
20:45we had one director before,
20:47is that it was this delicate balance of,
20:50I have something that is highly successful.
20:54How can I make this my own?
20:56Your tendency as a director is to say,
20:58okay, I want to put my stamp, I want to change everything.
21:01And it would have been a big mistake in Harry Potter.
21:05I didn't want audiences to go and feel that they were watching a completely different film
21:09because they were following a saga.
21:11Now remember, guys, that you have to take care of your frogs.
21:14Don't worry.
21:15The thing I love most about what Alfonso did with Azkaban
21:18is his sense of magic.
21:20He took it to another level in terms of being in this world.
21:23He's here, somewhere in the castle.
21:26Sirius Black!
21:29This is a word more.
21:30And this time, come out slower.
21:32One of the things about Alfonso is he's incredibly detailed.
21:35Oh, that is way nicer composition.
21:38Way nicer. Look at that.
21:40He pushes everybody to, you know, the absolute limit in terms of making things better.
21:46He never settles.
21:47For example, this is the time turner.
21:49I remember the process of coming to this design.
21:52As we went through quite a few designs, Alfonso made it work.
22:00And action!
22:02Expelliarmus!
22:03On the third film, a lot of the wands were changed.
22:06So most people's wands started off like that.
22:08So when you see Harry in the first film, it's a very similar wand to this.
22:13And then the only change is Alfonso wanted to make it more characterful.
22:17So that changed Harry's wand.
22:19And that kind of ethos of showing the character in the wand,
22:23that whole principle really got established further into the films.
22:26It wasn't something that was started off.
22:28In the revamped set, where this ridge is going to be?
22:32It's kind of this height.
22:34And where is it going to be?
22:35From there right up to the tree there.
22:36Part of the thing was trying to bring a certain naturalism to the whole thing.
22:41In which character and environment, they have the same weight.
22:45So there are not that many close-ups in the film.
22:48We really trusted that it was more powerful to blend those characters with the environment, with Hogwarts.
22:55You'd have these kind of elaborate establishing shots where the environment was setting the mood much more.
23:03And you had the Whomping Willow appearing through the seasons.
23:07Hogwarts had all these spaces already established, you know, corridors and common rooms and so on.
23:14But he wanted to link them.
23:16He wanted us to be more explicit about the relationship between these spaces.
23:20In number three, we started doing some changes to Hogwarts.
23:26We tried to create a universe that was very precise in terms of geography.
23:31So you can go from the Great Hall and you can see how you can walk into the staircases.
23:37And from the staircases you get to Harry's room.
23:40So it was not just a set. It was a place that actually exists.
23:44And it's evolved over the films.
23:46You know, we've ducked and dived and moved things.
23:49And, you know, that Whomping Willow has moved in and out of a courtyard...
23:52...depending on budget and the needs of the script.
23:57There were new requirements.
23:58You know, suddenly Sirius was imprisoned in the top of a tower in the middle of the complex.
24:03So we added a tower with Sirius' cell at the top.
24:08So the continuity discrepancies have, from time to time, bothered me, I must say.
24:13They don't seem to have bothered the rest of the world.
24:15Which is what has emboldened us, I think, to go on and just make these changes anyway.
24:21Another thing was to set Hogwarts in the highlands of Scotland.
24:27Because before you would see Hogwarts a little bit out of context of the rest of the landscape.
24:33Here we went to Scotland to shoot, like, for three weeks...
24:36...in the environment around the castle.
24:39So that was an important thing.
24:41And that was something that Stuart Craig fought so much for.
24:44And he found the most amazing location to make everything happen.
24:48I think J.K. Reilly's intention was that Hogwarts was in Scotland.
24:58If you're gonna come to Scotland, the highlands of Scotland are obviously the most visually spectacular.
25:04So, you know, we worked out pretty quickly that's probably where we should be looking.
25:09So with Orden and Survey maps, we started to piece together a world...
25:13...that could give us a kind of credible landscape.
25:16You can't find that landscape anywhere else.
25:19It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to anywhere in the world.
25:23It was most certainly a bonus for the look.
25:25But I think the weather was not a bonus for many of the crew.
25:29We met with it for five days, and it rained, and we were on a hill, and there was mud everywhere...
25:35...and people were sliding, and it was miserable for the crew.
25:38And it was expensive, which was miserable for the studio.
25:41Um, but actually, Alfonso loved it.
25:45See that bit of sky over there? It's lovely.
25:48Because the texture of the sky and the contrast was perfect.
25:56I wanted the universe to be darker.
25:59So I chose a darker palette.
26:01We wanted to go into more monochrome, more desaturated colors.
26:05For instance, the title of Harry Potter, we decided to change, for instance, from golden to silver.
26:11Alfonso brought the darkness without a shadow of a doubt.
26:15I mean, you spent your whole time thinking, can he be serious? We'll never get away with it.
26:20You're arching back. He's losing his life. The camera comes here.
26:25This is like a new field, right? But it's not your thing. It's gonna be kind of dark.
26:29Probably, but it's just to be, you know, faithful to the material, to the spirit of the material.
26:35That's what we've been trying to be.
26:37And Harry's older, too. So, as everything is told from Harry's point of view, you have to respect that.
26:44One, two, three.
26:47Alfonso was amazing, because that was the first time we all kind of went.
26:52It's quite serious, isn't it?
26:59There were a lot of, like, voices. Are we sure we're not going to be so dark?
27:03And I would say, no, I think that this is the right balance.
27:06And once that they start seeing the footage, they're just connected with the concept.
27:12If we come from here into...
27:15Alfonso broke a lot of the conventions.
27:18He was making his own statement, his own film.
27:20And I thought he matured the films and matured the cast fantastically.
27:25You actually fainted.
27:27Shove off Malfoy.
27:28How did he find out?
27:29Just forget it.
27:31I was very happy with the film.
27:33I wanted to do a film that will fit perfectly well as part of the franchise.
27:38But a film that if you happen to see it on its own, it will just work as a film.
27:44And if something I'm proud of Azkaban is that, in a way, set up the tone for the films to come later on.
27:55On the third film, Alfonso had begun to alter the process of how we looked at the books.
27:59The books were getting longer.
28:01And already by the third book, we were reaching a length...
28:04...where it was becoming clear that we were going to have to make some serious edits.
28:07And the choice that Alfonso made was to tell the story from Harry's point of view...
28:11...and things that didn't relate to Harry sometimes fall by the wayside.
28:14But the fourth book was the first one that we contemplated dividing into two.
28:21David Heyman came to me with number four and said, would I read the book?
28:28I read it and the book is vast.
28:30It's a great big sort of house brick-sized thing.
28:33And clearly there were one or two things to do.
28:37You either had to do the whole thing, in which case you had two movies...
28:41...or you had to take a very strong line on it and say, no, it's only this...
28:44...and we'll dispense with everything else.
28:46And I thought that it was a great thriller.
28:50It's like a Hitchcock thriller.
28:53And I was very convinced that it was only one film...
28:57...so I was simply ruthless with the stuff that I couldn't see a way of doing.
29:01We'd probably made a little more of the Quidditch World Cup, for example...
29:06...if we'd had more time.
29:08But ultimately we felt that we could do it in one.
29:11And actually that decision held with five and six...
29:15...because once we'd made that decision with four, we felt we couldn't go back.
29:19Now the moment you've all been waiting for...
29:22...the champion's selection.
29:31How impossible.
29:32Goblet of Fire was a wonderful sort of epic film in its sense of adventure.
29:38And Mike Newell brought a very sort of exciting visceral quality to the film.
29:44Three, one, yeah!
29:49One of my favorite sequences is the dragon chase in the fourth film.
29:52I think that's one of the best sequences you've ever done.
29:54And it's a very, very good dragon.
29:56I always remember being really, really impressed by that.
29:59The tribe was a big extravaganza...
30:02...and Mike Newell described it as a Bollywood movie...
30:05...much to our horror at one point, because, my God, what does he mean?
30:08But what he meant was a huge extravagant entertainment...
30:11...and that was Mike's character.
30:13That was what the film required, and that's what he delivered.
30:16One of the reasons why we chose Mike was he was so brilliant at capturing...
30:19...British public school life.
30:21You and Crumb? That's rich.
30:23Cut! Very good.
30:24You know, he was the first British director...
30:26...and introduced the British sensibility in a really wonderful way.
30:30I was gonna do what Alfonso did.
30:33I said, now, they're growing up. That's the real point about it.
30:35They're growing up, and the story is much blacker and more serious...
30:39...and we're gonna frighten them.
30:40And so I'm gonna make it really sort of dark and creepy and whatnot.
30:45And then Alfonso very sweetly said, if you want...
30:49...you can have a look at the first sort of 40 minutes of my film.
30:52And then I went to his cutting room...
30:54...and they showed me this dark and creepy world that he had made.
30:58And so I had nothing to do. What was I gonna do?
31:01I had to reinvent the wheel.
31:03Although I knew I'd got two great pieces of magic up my sleeve...
31:06...which were going to make a wonderful climax.
31:09One was Brendan Gleeson playing Mad-Eye Moody.
31:12Ah!
31:13And the other was Ralph Fiennes playing Voldemort.
31:16The boy who lived.
31:19How lies have fed your legend, Harry.
31:23And so what I had to do, in a way, was to make the emotional complication...
31:28...that was going to hit these kids at 15.
31:31And so I concentrated on that.
31:33All of those smiles and whatnot. That's all good stuff.
31:37And so what I got was I probably got a funnier film.
31:40There she was walking by.
31:42You know I like it when they walk.
31:44All that dealing with teenage angst and beginning of sort of dating and stuff.
31:48He had a ball with that. And it was a genuinely funny film.
31:52Victor's gone to get drinks. Do you want to join us?
31:55Oh! He kissed me.
32:00We had the rock and roll band come in for the Yule Ball.
32:03We sort of went through a bit through the rock and roll phase.
32:06Everyone grew their hair.
32:10The whole mood of the film just changed...
32:12...and everyone was sort of trying to find their own place.
32:15That's what you do when you get to that age.
32:17You know, everyone was sort of becoming a bit moodier.
32:19And it just worked so well. Like, it just really fit.
32:22It just keeps kind of criss-crossing and moving around.
32:28My film was about growing up.
32:30With that came You Are Mortal...
32:33...which was the other big thing of the film as far as I was concerned.
32:39Because up to that point...
32:42...even with Alfonso's...
32:45...nobody had ever actually got hurt.
32:48For a moment, though, I thought you were gonna let it get me.
32:52For a moment, so did I.
32:54The problem with the Harry Potter story, both in the books and in the films...
32:59...is you don't want to be unfaithful to the tone of the first book...
33:04...that set up the world.
33:05But at the same time, they are growing up.
33:07And that's a problem I encounter in the books all the time.
33:10There have been times when my editor has not been happy with things I wanted to do...
33:13...but I've always done them.
33:15She was particularly unhappy with parts of the ending of Four...
33:19...but we argued it out and I won.
33:21Kill the Spare!
33:23Come on, Akadabha!
33:24Negric!
33:26At the end of Goblet of Fire is, of course, the first time...
33:28...you really see a character die, particularly as a school kid.
33:32That's my son!
33:34That's my boy!
33:39That's my boy!
33:42They were flagging up where the films were going at that stage.
33:45You know, just expect more of this.
33:48He's back! He's back!
33:50Voldemort's back!
33:52That meant, you know, there was a kind of a bit of a seismic shift.
33:56We were moving on from some of the original core audience...
33:59...who were much younger, though the demographic changed.
34:02And we changed from PG to PG-13.
34:09Everything's going to change now, isn't it?
34:11We took my film to show Warners who guard the soul of the whole thing...
34:16...and make sure that you don't stray too far...
34:19...which you always have to do, which is always a nervous occasion...
34:23...because you don't know how they're going to respond.
34:25And Warners saw it, and Alan Horn, who's the head honcho, said...
34:30...it's long, but that's all right.
34:32It's pretty violent at times, but that's all right.
34:36It's actually rather black and scary at times, but that's all right.
34:40And he just kind of ticked all the boxes.
34:43And so it's great when you get the people who pay the checks...
34:46...to actually get the number of this thing...
34:49...for which they have paid so colossally.
34:52We offered Mike the fifth film, and we offered up once the fourth...
34:55...but I think they were just too exhausted.
34:57So we were looking for a great filmmaker to come into Joe's world.
35:03David Yates has been a great choice for the final four films.
35:07You know, he made the world more political, made it feel more contemporary.
35:11I'm still befuddled why they asked me in the first place, frankly.
35:14When I got the phone call, I was gobsmacked, because I thought...
35:17...you know, I'd just finished a thing called Sex Traffic...
35:20...about a really intense, gritty, emotional drama.
35:23And they said, Come to Hogwarts.
35:25And I just had to kind of think, Hmm, that's an odd fit.
35:30And they just haven't been able to get rid of me since.
35:34When we met David Yates, he had a lot of experience...
35:37...with his TV work of political themes.
35:40And the fifth film, you know, there was a bit of Big Brother...
35:44...with the Ministry looking over Hogwarts.
35:46And David had dealt with political themes.
35:49He was an obvious choice to come and take over.
35:52It's a riot. You're taking over the school.
35:55This is like a great fight back.
35:57As a director, you never want to follow other people's footfalls in the snow.
36:00You always want to make your own footfalls in the snow.
36:03And four films have kind of explored the detail of that world.
36:08So I was more interested in exploring the people within it.
36:12You know, their journeys and their psychologies and their emotions...
36:16...and what's going on inside their hearts and heads.
36:18I felt it was important to start pulling it a little bit more...
36:22...towards the more intense, darker aspects...
36:25...of what Joe was doing in the later books.
36:28But the fifth film was not without its challenges.
36:31Steve Clovers decided not to do the fifth film.
36:34One day the phone rang and I said,
36:36Would you be interested in adapting Order of the Phoenix?
36:39And it's one of those moments, you know.
36:42It's one of those calls where every time sort of stops for a second.
36:45As the new guy, I did have a moment of,
36:48Oh, my God, what if I screw this up?
36:50You know, it's been this amazing phenomenon...
36:53...and this amazing series of films.
36:54And what if I'm the guy who drops the ball?
36:56But you have to kind of shut that out.
36:59Otherwise you'd be crazy.
37:01Make it a powerful memory.
37:03The happiest you can remember.
37:05Allow it to fill you up.
37:08The fifth book was a big structural job for a writer...
37:11...to try and boil it down.
37:13It was a complicated story.
37:15It was a difficult narrative.
37:17And that's a real strength of Michael's.
37:19It's changing out there.
37:22Just like last time.
37:24There's a storm coming, Harry.
37:26We'd all best be ready when she does.
37:29We always thought of it as a war movie.
37:31Clouds of war are gathering.
37:33And I always thought of Grimmauld Place as kind of the French Resistance...
37:37...and underground there.
37:39When the stakes couldn't be higher, that's a battle for Harry's soul.
37:43So I just focused on the emotional through line.
37:48What do we care about the most?
37:50And, of course, what Sirius has done.
37:56And Harry's reaction to that.
38:06And then seeing this epic battle that we've been waiting for five books to see...
38:11...between Dumbledore and Voldemort.
38:16That's when you get the two biggest, most powerful wizards in the entire universe...
38:21...fighting, which was great fun to shoot.
38:24As you're locked in this equal battle, some of these tributaries splinter off...
38:29...and blow the wall out around there.
38:32I filmed it with a lot of handheld camera, actually.
38:34I just said, just get the camera off the dolly, take it off the tripod.
38:38I wanted everyone to feel they were in the middle of it and they had to duck...
38:41...when it was all going off around them.
38:43It's got a lovely sense of darkness and the rhythm of it's great.
38:47David did an amazing job, I think, with making that battle feel real...
38:51...and making you feel like you were there.
38:53I think the last act of this film is as exciting as any we've had.
39:05It's just a series of thrilling action beats.
39:09For example, these are the prophecies from the Hall of Prophecies in the fifth film.
39:14This was a very challenging sequence to do.
39:17Initially, we were going to build it...
39:18...but then we realized that we didn't have a place that was big enough...
39:21...and it would not only cost, but it would take so long to construct...
39:27...that we decided to do it digitally.
39:30You saw only what the Dark Lord wanted you to see.
39:34The Hall of Prophecies was, I think, our first entirely digital set.
39:40We did construct bits of walkway, but apart from that...
39:44...every bit of structure, every prop was a CG.
39:50And then, of course, all of it crashing down.
39:52Get back to the door!
39:53It's all done on the computer. It's amazing.
39:55I'm not sure we could have done that with the same degree of success four or five years before.
40:04When I first saw Order of the Phoenix, I was so shocked...
40:06...and I just thought, this is genius, and the special effects were just amazing, you know.
40:10But it's just so different from what I knew as David's personality.
40:15David's very quiet. At first, I thought shy and quite reserved...
40:20...and yet he brings out this explosive picture.
40:26I was like a rocket in five. There's so much to learn.
40:30And I was on this kind of super-adrenalised excitement.
40:35And it was kind of towards the tail end of Order of the Phoenix...
40:38...that they raised the prospect of doing half-blood prints.
40:41The big question to me was, could I do comedy?
40:43Because they liked some of the stuff I was doing on Order of the Phoenix...
40:46...but there weren't very many laughs in it.
40:48That's good. That's good. One more while we're in the mood.
40:51Let's do it quickly. That's good.
40:53I was like an actor who pretends they can ride a horse, you know.
40:56Yeah, I can do comedy. Of course I can do comedy.
41:00Hey! She's only interested in you because she thinks you're the chosen one.
41:05But I am the chosen one.
41:07This film is more of a romantic comedy.
41:10It's much more just kind of like the trials and tribulations of love.
41:14And I think the way that David is chosen to portray it is funny. It's sweet.
41:20I think the thing that's most exciting about David Yates...
41:24...is David taps into the anxieties, the anger, the frustration of being a teenager.
41:29Excuse me, I have to go and vomit.
41:31The relationship between Harry, Hermione and Ron...
41:34...was just beautifully, beautifully executed.
41:37It's exactly where I would have hoped those characters would have gone.
41:40And I think David's just drawing phenomenal performances from him.
41:43If you had a shred of self-respect, you'd hand that book in.
41:46Not bloody likely. He's top of the class. He's even better than you, Hermione.
41:51Slughorn thinks he's a genius.
41:53One of the joys of this job is seeing them ask more questions on the floor...
41:58...when we're doing a scene.
41:59Go on, Harry.
42:00You've got to go into it.
42:01And then there's a bit of a, I don't know, some sort of that kind of thing.
42:03Sort of low-key, general kids.
42:06Yeah, let's do that.
42:07Because I think that would just be really irritating.
42:09Okay.
42:10And they're not kids anymore. They're young people.
42:11Don't drink it, Ron.
42:13So I can watch them and see them get better at what they do...
42:17...or find colours and notes and feelings.
42:20So I find it really rewarding.
42:22And cut. Good. Check the cake. Good.
42:25Cut.
42:26Check the cake.
42:27When the sick film came about, I was rather terrified...
42:30...thinking, God, they're actually asking me to say something else...
42:32...than potter this and, you know, whatever.
42:34So it was actually some complicated bits in it.
42:36I know what you did, Malfoy. You hexed her, didn't you?
42:41So I was very excited and very nervous at the time when we were doing that.
42:44Broken in a way, isn't he?
42:46Yeah, sure.
42:47Because he's failed. He's failed in every sense.
42:50And, uh...
42:51Is there any relief that he knows now he's not gonna have to do it?
42:53Probably both, isn't it?
42:54He's probably relieved to be out of it.
42:57And I'm now forever grateful that we had the opportunity to evolve the characters...
43:00...and try and make them as if they're growing up for real.
43:03I have to do this. I have to kill you. Who's gonna kill me?
43:10Now.
43:16In the sixth film, there were sort of two sets of changes with Harry.
43:19The one set of changes is from boy to man, which sort of all the characters go through.
43:23Severus.
43:24Please.
43:27Avada Kedavra.
43:36And there's the other development, which is the change from schoolboy to warrior.
43:40Incarcerous!
43:42Fight back!
43:43You coward, fight back!
43:45No!
43:48He belongs to the Dark Lord.
43:51You know, as Harry moves towards the end of this story...
43:54...he feels he's been given this responsibility to deal with Voldemort...
43:57...and he finds it difficult to share that responsibility with anybody.
44:02You know, and Dan carries a lot as an actor as well, I think.
44:06He feels the pressure and the weight of it.
44:08I mean, in a way, that's been a challenge for me.
44:11But hopefully it should have a sense that we are moving towards something momentous.
44:21As we move towards the climax, I think having a knowledge of the actors...
44:25...and with all the loose ends of the series being tied together in these final chapters...
44:30...it's great having someone who has worked on the films before...
44:33...understands the various people in order to bring out their potential.
44:37They raise the prospect.
44:39Do you think you could take on the last two?
44:42And I actually had to think about it seriously, because it was a lot of work.
44:45And it's hard.
44:46And then there have been a couple of moments.
44:48End of Five, I had a bit of a boof.
44:51You have to have it. You have to come down.
44:54And Bruno Delbinor and David Hamer were the only people who astutely spotted it.
44:59You know, they said, Are you okay?
45:01And actually, I wasn't okay. I was knackered.
45:03But it just sort of evolved, and it felt right.
45:07And I really wanted to see it through.
45:09Good cut. Cut there.
45:10So I was keen to sort of be able to give the audience a sense of closure...
45:16...which I couldn't do on the first two films I'd done.
45:18It's like you imagine, If I'm gonna die now, I'm gonna die fighting you.
45:23I think it would have been far too much for somebody to come in on the last one.
45:28I don't think they would have managed.
45:30I think you need somebody like David who's got at least one film...
45:33...and in David's case, obviously, two films experienced behind him.
45:38Well, the last four, in a way, are a much more continuous story.
45:42It's no longer a series of battles. It's the war.
45:45It's a very good idea to have the same guy doing it.
45:47So it's set the same sort of tone.
45:50But you can't get all this book into one movie.
45:53Not if you intend to make a film that does justice to the book...
45:57...and a film that is not seven or eight hours long.
46:01It was a really tricky decision to make two movies out of the book.
46:05But when I was working through the set pieces...
46:08...I would have loved to have put in one script, it quickly transpired...
46:12...that it would have been the most expensive film in the history of cinema ever.
46:16I was very much against doing it as two films.
46:18I thought it was a terrible idea.
46:20When it was initially mooted by Lionel Wigram, who's now an executive producer on the film...
46:25...I said, it's a bad idea.
46:26Because we hadn't done it, why would we do it now?
46:28And then Steve started to break down the book.
46:30It just became increasingly clear that everything in this book is relevant...
46:36...and so many loose ends are tied up...
46:39...that if we would leave a lot of it out, the film wouldn't make sense...
46:43...and we wouldn't be really bringing the books and the films to the conclusion that they deserve.
46:50Of course, there was a moment, a few months later, once we'd announced...
46:53...that we were going to do two films, that Steve came to me and said,
46:55...you know, David, there's almost enough in here for three.
47:00I went, no, no, no, we can't do that.
47:02So, anyway, it's two.
47:04And action!
47:06Before we all started filming, Joe Rowling wrote me a card saying...
47:10...I've almost finished the seventh book and I'm sending you on a weird kind of road movie.
47:15Just the fact that we're not in Hogwarts makes such a difference to the feel of the film...
47:19...because it's harder to see us as school kids when we're not at school...
47:22...and I think it gives the film a more adult tone.
47:24We are going on location on this film.
47:27The first unit are going to Wales.
47:29The actors, I think, are going to get into Scotland for a couple of days.
47:32That's somewhere they haven't been since Harry Potter 3.
47:35So it is more of a location film than the last three films.
47:41I love Leavesden. A lot of people kind of are a bit down on Leavesden...
47:44...but I actually love it. It's kind of been a second home.
47:47But it is equally lovely to get out and be on location for a few days...
47:51...and see some trees and just daylight is nice.
47:54He doesn't know what he's doing, does he?
47:57None of us do.
48:03I think it's a very different kind of film, really, from the other ones.
48:06Good. All right, guys? Look great from here.
48:09There's been a few scenes that have been quite tough.
48:11A bit tight.
48:12Rupert was doing a scene today in the all-night cafe...
48:14...talking about whether or not he should kill this Death Eater.
48:18So what are we going to do with you, eh?
48:20Kill us if it was to turn around, wouldn't you?
48:23And I was so proud watching him...
48:25...because it's a really serious bit of acting.
48:27Suppose you did Mad-Eye. How would you feel then?
48:30And we're seeing stuff in The Hallows Part One and Hallows Part Two...
48:36...which is really grown up and dark.
48:39It's incredible to see what all of these characters do...
48:43...when they're pushed to the very edge.
48:46We really had to step up in terms of...
48:49...giving a performance that would make that real.
48:52Please!
48:53Arse, Ronald Weasley!
48:55There's lots of fights and confrontation between me, Ron and Hermione.
48:58And action!
48:59You think I don't know what it feels like?
49:00No, you don't know how it feels like!
49:02Your parents are dead!
49:03You have no family!
49:05Stop! Stop!
49:07It's a tough film for those three characters and their relationships.
49:11You're not still mad at him, are you?
49:14I'm always mad at him.
49:17Even though we spend so much of Part One and Part Two in different places...
49:21...it's nice that it ends at Hogwarts...
49:23...because there's kind of this nostalgic air to all these different places.
49:27And it reminds everyone of the scale and how big all of this saga is.
49:33One very apparent thing we've done to Hogwarts...
49:35...is literally darken the color of the school.
49:38In films one and two, Hogwarts are rather pleasing...
49:41...kind of honey-colored, sunlit stone.
49:44And it has become, in the last two, three films...
49:47...much, much darker, greyer, much more sinister.
49:52Silhouette has become more aggressive, I suppose.
49:56They've gained many more spires and points.
50:00And having found hundreds of different ways...
50:03...of looking at this fictitious place...
50:06...to then be involved in its demise...
50:09...has been a little sad, actually.
50:12But I suppose fitting, in a way, we're coming to the end.
50:16It's kind of sad to see all these sets we've grown up with.
50:20The Great Hall just kind of destroyed, really.
50:22All this rubble everywhere. It's quite shocking, actually.
50:25The first time we walked in there...
50:27...for some reason it shocked into my head...
50:29...all the times when we used to see the owls flying with the post...
50:32...and everyone used to be eating the big feast and everything.
50:35To all of a sudden there's flames around...
50:38...half the wall has been crumbled down.
50:40It was a totally different environment...
50:42...and one which shows that this isn't gonna end all happily.
50:51Most of the planning of the seven books...
50:53...was done pre-publication of the first book.
50:56And I wrote it exactly the way I set out to write it...
51:00...and I really wanted that faithfully represented on screen.
51:03I don't know if it was a case of certain things just fell into place...
51:06...as she was writing it...
51:09...or if it was every meticulous detail was planned up from the beginning...
51:12...but I think for something this intricate...
51:14...you must have to have a lot of it mapped out from the very start.
51:17And it's a fantastic feat of storytelling.
51:19Tom Riddle's diary.
51:20It's a Horcrux, yes.
51:22Four years ago, when you saved Ginny Weasley's life in the Chamber of Secrets...
51:25...you brought me this.
51:26I knew then this was a different kind of magic.
51:28The stories obviously grow up.
51:30They follow a child from young age into more adult themes.
51:34And obviously the kids who have been reading it grow up with the characters...
51:38...and rarely a film's done that.
51:40I think that's the strength of the books and the series as a whole...
51:43...is that they don't patronize children.
51:45There's some very difficult issues that are brought up within them.
51:50And they have a lot to say and teach people who read them.
51:55The ones that love us never really leave us.
51:59And you can always find them...
52:02...in here.
52:05We deal with issues of responsibility and friendship.
52:08I've got you into enough trouble as it is.
52:11Dumbledore's arm is supposed to be about doing something real.
52:14Or is that all just words to you?
52:16Maybe you don't have to do this all by yourself, mate.
52:18Issues of racism and bigotry.
52:20No one asked your opinion, you filthy little mudblood.
52:24There's nothing childlike about the themes dealt with...
52:27...and they're not dealt with in a childlike way.
52:29And I think that's why it's captured young people as an audience...
52:31...but also adults.
52:42You're the weak one.
52:44And you'll never know love.
52:46Or friendship.
52:51And I feel sorry for you.
52:53The whole story for me...
52:55...the seven books is about a loss of innocence.
52:57That's what, for me, the films, the books, everything is about.
53:01And that is a sad thing to lose.
53:04As we kind of come to the conclusion of this series...
53:08...Harry is quite alone in lots of ways.
53:10He loses Sirius. He loses Dumbledore.
53:13He's lost his parents.
53:15And he sees a character who is slightly haunted...
53:18...and is surrounded by ghosts, the ghosts of his past.
53:22And, you know, I find that very moving.
53:24The prophecy...
53:26...said...
53:28...neither one can live while the other one survives.
53:32It means...
53:36...one of us is gonna have to kill the other.
53:38Yes.
53:40The notion that there's some destiny...
53:42...that ultimately Harry will have to face off...
53:44...against the person who killed his parents...
53:46...and possibly die himself to save humanity...
53:49...is about as epic a theme as you can get.
53:51Harry Potter...
53:53...the boy who lived...
53:56...come to die.
53:58...and it doesn't shy away from those dire consequences.
54:03What's been wonderful about the reactions we've got year after year...
54:06...is the fact that people have generally been saying...
54:08...that we've managed to sustain both the intensity of the story...
54:12...and also the integrity.
54:17We haven't watered it down or tried to lessen the darkness of the later books.
54:24That's the precedent I want to continue with.
54:27By the time we finish filming, it'll be ten years of my life.
54:31So, you know, I don't want to fall at the final hurdle...
54:33...and let it all be for nothing.
54:35If you'd asked me in the beginning...
54:37...did I want to sign up for eight films in ten years...
54:40...I would probably have said no.
54:42But having done it, I'm very glad I did it.
54:45It's been a very sort of growing, terrific experience...
54:48...from beginning to end.
54:50It's very rare that you work in the same world for as long as we have.
54:54But this is not a franchise where I feel like we've played it safe.
54:57We've tried to make each one better than the last.
55:00And it's been a remarkable, wonderful adventure.
55:07The thing I'm probably most proud of is that what we had originally set out to do...
55:11...seems like it's about to be accomplished.
55:13We've basically all carried out what Joe Rowling wanted to do...
55:18...and what the books have done.
55:19Which is start with what is almost a child's storybook...
55:24...and take it to a point where it's much more complex and much more mature.
55:29And that, to me, is something I've never seen in the history of film...
55:32...and may never be done again.
55:34Aah!
55:52Why do you live?
55:54Because I have something worth living for.
55:58All right, good. Cut. Cut there.
56:00That is a wrap and end of principal photography on Harry Potter.
56:03Applause.
56:06Applause.
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